Comment: Two sportsmen deserve thanks but don’t get much

The outdoor AHL hockey extravaganza at Ivor Wynne Stadium appears to have been a triumph for Bulldogs’ owner Michael Andlauer . True, a Bulldog win would have been a bonus, but the rest of the weekend festivities –from the old-timers classic on Friday night,  the Sweet Caroline singalong, the brilliant sunshine on Saturday, and then the Bulldogs-Marlies game—all combined to make the weekend a complete success. The city was showcased to a national TV audience in a very flattering light by the Sportsnet crew. See http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/01/21/lefko_on_ahl/.

Hopefully for Andlauer the real bonus will be the fact that 20,000 people in the stands and many more at home got a good look at the calibre of hockey that is the AHL. It is fast paced, hard hitting and is discernable from the NHL variety only by real hockey experts. Michael Andlauer poured a lot of money into the weekend classic in addition to the money he regularly bleeds at Bulldog home games in front of sparse crowds at Copps. It’s time the Bay Area rewarded his community initiative by supporting the hockey team. Does anybody think Hamilton will get an NHL team when it shows such pitiful support for the AHL? Winnipeg has a team in part because they embraced the Manitoba Moose after losing the Jets to Phoenix and went to the top of the list when the NHL was looking for homes for orphan teams. The real reason for going to a Bulldog game, however, is the entertainment value of the game, not civic duty. The entertainment value is there, we argue—so let’s all go. As Andlauer told Sportsnet on the weekend “empty seats beget empty seats,” That true but so, hopefully is the reverse—good crowds can become a habit.

Thinking of the contribution Michael Andlauer has made over the years to try to nurture pro hockey in Hamilton, one is reminded of a similar sacrifice of personal treasure by Bob Young, owner of the Ticats. Were it not so embarrassing, it would be almost laughable to see letter writers, mostly anonymous, persisting in referring to the proposed new stadium as a “subsidy to a millionaire owner.” Prior to 2011 Young had sunk $30 Million into the team—money he will never recoup no matter how long he owns the Cats. Next year Young faces almost certain significant additional losses as he tries to operate a team without a stadium, during the Ivor Wynne re-build.  Both Young and Andlauer deserve our thanks for trying to keep Hamilton on the map.